CHANDIGARH, June 10: In a major development, the Punjab and Haryana High Court sought the status report from Haryana Police on its investigation into the alleged sexual exploitation of an activist at Tikri border.
The HC asked for the report after hearing a plea filed by one of the accused, Ankur Sangwan seeking anticipatory bail in the case.
Pleading innocence in the entire episode, Ankur, who is a native of Charkhi Dadri in Haryana, submitted that he was being unnecessarily harassed and humiliated by the police even though his name has not been mentioned at any stage by the victim or her father in the complaint.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that the victim was suffering from Covid-19 and no postmortem was conducted after her death. The only evidence collected so far is the hearsay evidence of the deceased's father, a report said.
“She had informed her father telephonically as well as when her father met her in hospital. She had not mentioned Ankur’s name anywhere in the complaint or the FIR. He is innocent and has not committed any offence. No useful purpose would be served by sending the petitioner behind bars as there is nothing to be recovered from him,” the counsel argued. The matter has now been listed for hearing on June 16.
The FIR in this case, which includes the charges of gang rape, was registered on May 9 at Bahadurgarh’s city police station in Jhajjar district of Haryana. The complaint in this regard was given by the deceased activist’s father.
Bahadurgarh Police booked Anil Malik, Anup Singh, Ankur Sangwan, Jagdish Brar, along with two women activists, Kavita and Yogita, who had pitched tents at Tikri border under the banner of Kisan Social Army, for gang rape and abduction.
In his plea, the petitioner said that on April 1, a delegation of six persons including the petitioner claiming to be members of Kisan Social Army reached West Bengal as a part of the campaign by Sanyukta Kisan Morcha.
The victim had met the group during the tour and joined the group on April 11 to travel to Delhi.
The petitioner mentioned that one of the members of the group, Anil Malik, who was also the leader of the group, had tried to kiss the activist forcibly on the train when they were on their way to Delhi.
On April 12, they reached Delhi and then reached the Tikri border protest site. The victim stayed in the tent of the Kisan Social Army.
On April 14, the victim narrated the train incident to her father. As per the FIR, the victim told her father that Anil and Anoop were not decent persons and that they were pressurising and blackmailing her.
On April 16 and 17, the victim informed her father over the phone that she had passed blood with urine. After a few days, the victim again called her father and said that she was feeling relaxed because she had menstrual discharge, the report said.
On April 21, the victim developed a mild fever followed by vomiting and loose motions. She took some medicine from a medical camp at Tikri but her condition did not improve much. On April 24, she developed a cough and difficulty breathing.
In view of her deteriorating health, she was admitted to Shivam Hospital by volunteers at Bahadurgarh where she was diagnosed with Covid-19 but her condition remained unstable.
On April 29, her father reached the hospital and she narrated the entire train incident and that she was sexually exploited in a tent by Anil Malik and Anoop helped him. She was under the watch of Anil Malik and Anoop Chanaut, she said. She died of Covid-19 on April 30.
The petitioner Ankur submitted that the victim had narrated the entire incident to her father from train to the tent but she had nowhere mentioned his name.